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MCC looking forward to showtime when Rialto refurbished (VIDEO)

By John Collins, jcollins@lowellsun.com

Updated:
09/13/2013 07:11:42 AM EDT

LOWELL -- By 2017, 141 years after it was originally constructed as the Boston & Maine Railroad Depot, the downtown Lowell building that's had more lives than a cat will become an ideal facility for Middlesex Community College students to rehearse and stage its own musicals, maybe even Cats.

On Wednesday, six years after Middlesex Community College acquired the Victorian Gothic-style structure at 246 Central St. best known as the former Rialto movie theater, Gov. Deval Patrick announced $11 million in capital funding for a new MCC Academic Arts Center on the site, which will serve as the college's own sparkling new dance studio and theater.

Middlesex, the state's largest community college, with campuses in Bedford and Lowell, will add $3 million of its own, upping the project's estimated pricetag to $14.

Middlesex Community College's Dean of Facilities Matt Sepe looks over the interior of the former Rialto Building that MCC has received $11 million in capital funding to renovate for theater and dance space. SUN/ David H. Brow

After a yearlong architectural design phase through 2014, construction is expected to begin in early 2015 with completion targeted for 2017.

"It's a special building, and a special project, meaning as much to the city as it does to the college," said Middlesex Community College President Carole Cowan. "It's going to provide our students with many more academic programs and opportunities, but it will also provide the city with interesting new spaces."

Cowan noted that the state funding resulted from Patrick's 2008 Higher Education Bond Bill, which asked college officials to identify what their highest-priority project was.

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"We identified the Boston and Maine building as our priority project, and we did that because it really completes some necessary space for our academic arts programs," Cowan said. "We've been (holding arts) classes in rented, smaller spaces that just can't continue to accommodate our program growth."

Giving an impromptu tour of the musty, three-story building on Thursday was Matthew Sepe, MCC's dean of facilities.

The Rialto Building is expected to be renovated by Middlesex Community College by 2017 as theater space. SUN/ David H. Brow

Sepe unbolted the large, wooden double doors facing the Central Street sidewalk, throwing open the ancient building to the elements, seemingly for the first time in years.

"It's been a few years in the making and we're really excited about it. It's great for the college, but great for the city, too," said Sepe. "From a bricks-and-mortar perspective, we're going to turn it into a showplace, with a theater, dance studio, classrooms. It'll be a great asset for the downtown area."

The architectural design of the Arts Center, to be rendered by Leers Weinzapfel Associates, will involve a full renovation of the historic building, and will be drawn up with significant input from Lowell National Historical Park staff and the Massachusetts Historic Commission representatives who will be consulted on the project.

News of the dramatic transformation to a college arts center was warmly welcomed by neighboring downtown business people, including Ana Resendes, manager of Espresso Pizza, the Rialto/B&M building's next-door-neighbor since 1962.

"It should be a great thing for us," said Resendes, who was already imagining MCC arts students exiting classes having danced up huge appetites for pizza. "Your first thought is, 'Wow that's good. It will definitely be busier.' "

According to Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce President Danielle McFadden, the timing and location of the MCC Academic Arts Center project couldn't be better.

"It's taking a vacant building at a major intersection and turning it onto a major arts building that brings students downtown and, we expect, helps all of the downtown businesses in that area tremendously," said McFadden. "It's especially exciting, considering what's going on with Jackson, Appleton and Middlesex, that whole JAM area that's already starting to develop."

State Sen. Eileen Donoghue of Lowell hailed the news of the MCC Academic Arts Center project getting the green light as "a huge milestone" for the students and major boost to both the college's and city's arts and cultural community.

"I'm delighted that Gov. Patrick and Commissioner Freeland recognized the significance of this project and decided to make it one of their top priorities," said Donoghue. "The Rialto Building is a prominent historical landmark that will be a great asset to Middlesex Community College and the City of Lowell."

Built in 1876, the Rialto Building originally served as the Boston & Maine Railroad's Central Street depot until 1895. Since then it has housed a theater, bowling alley, billiards parlor, music teachers, barbers, real-estate agents, florists and a paint-supply store.

A check of the building's interior on Thursday revealed that major structural work needs to be done, including shoring up an exterior that allows sunlight to shine onto the floorboards through several spots where mortar has crumbled from between the 19th-century brickwork.

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